You’ve listed your properties on the big OTAs – Airbnb, VRBO, and the like. But you’re tired of the fees, the third-party issues, and the lack of control.
So you’re diving into the world of direct booking. If you build a direct booking website for your vacation rentals, you’ll be able to control the calendar, fees, and guest interactions in a way you never could before.
Deciding to build your direct booking engine is only the first step. With the help of CraftedStays, a seamless direct booking website builder that helps you maximize your bookings and build your brand in minutes, you can set up every visual element and theme to precisely attract your ideal guests – creating a booking experience that perfectly aligns with your hosting vision and resonates with the travelers you most want to welcome.
(Checkout this article to discover why CraftedStays is the leading choice for Direct Booking Site builders in the industry: “How to Optimize your Direct Booking Site for Mobile: The PEF Framework” )
The hard part? Deciding what to actually write on each page of your website. Especially when you’re not a writer.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the crucial steps in creating a direct booking website that attracts visitors and turns them into guests.
The Biggest Mistake in Marketing
Before you start writing the content and copy for your direct booking website, there’s an incredibly pivotal step that many property managers and hosts miss: taking the time to understand your audience.
You see, the biggest mistake in their marketing is trying to appeal to everyone.
When it comes to vacation rentals, everyone wants to be fully booked. That’s the dream, right?
But that heads-in-bed mentality often comes at the expense of clear, focused, targeted marketing.
And when you don’t have clear marketing, your messaging ends up being vague and meaningless, not speaking to anyone in particular.
When you market to everyone, you market to no one.
People need to be able to picture themselves in your properties. They need to feel like you’re talking specifically to them when they read your words. They need to feel like this place is meant for them.
That’s what makes them want to book.
The thing is, your home or your vacation rental brand – it’s not for everyone. A property that’s perfect for a bachelorette weekend is not necessarily great for families. A home that’s off the grid and perfect for unplugging with the family? It’s not meant for digital nomads.
So beyond the fact that targeting “everyone” results in vague wording, it also means you may end up having the wrong guests stay with you. And that can lead to unhappy guests, negative reviews, and zero referrals.
But when you target a specific guest and show them why your property is perfect for them? You’ll have happy guests, glowing reviews, and all their friends coming to stay too.
Defining Your Ideal Guest
The best vacation rental sites focus their content on one particular type of guest. If you can picture a specific person you’re writing to, it’s much easier to bring in some personality and use specific language that resonates with your audience.
The more specific, the better. That way your marketing will be more targeted and your message will be crystal clear.
Do Your Research
Your first step before copywriting for your direct booking site is to do your research.
Think about your property or properties. What features and amenities do you have? Who will love them?
Look at your previous guests, read through reviews, talk to your team, and nail down these elements of your target audience:
Who is your target market? Families, leisure, business, last minute travelers, digital nomads, pet-friendly?
What are the demographics of your target guests? Age, gender, and where they’re traveling from?
What are your ideal guest’s interests and hobbies? Who are they, what do they value, what do they like to do?
What are their travel preferences? Hotel-like amenities, strict cleaning, ease of communication, dedicated workspace & wifi, proximity/walkability?
What is your ideal guest’s budget? Are they looking for a deal or are they happy to pay a premium for luxury accommodations?
What is their reason for traveling? Relaxing at the beach, visiting all the theme parks, exploring the national park, being close to the convention center?
Create an Avatar
Once you’ve done customer and market research, it’s time to put it all together to create an avatar. An avatar is one specific (imaginary) person who represents your ideal guest.
When you picture your avatar while writing your website copy, you’ll naturally adopt a more conversational tone that will resonate with guests who match your avatar.
(Want a step-by-step guide to creating your avatar? Check out my free workbook here or scroll to the bottom of this page for more information.)
Copywriting Techniques
You’ve taken the time to understand your target audience, so now you’ll be able to use copywriting techniques to write targeted website copy that speaks directly to them.
Here’s how.
Address your avatar’s pain points and empathize with their struggles. Weave in storytelling and pepper in your personality to show them who you are and why you care. Present yourself as the solution they’ve been looking for – you’re exactly what they need. Do it in a way that’s customer-focused, not all about you.
And always end with a Call to Action (CTA) to show them a clear path forward. What should they do next? Browse your properties? Check out your blog posts? Learn more about you on your About page? Contact you for more information? Read about your concierge services?
Presenting a clear step forward is key to moving your customers towards the ultimate goal of booking directly with you through your brand-new website.
Tips for SEO
Once you’ve written the website copy for your direct booking website, it’s time to do some SEO. Good copywriting and search engine optimization go hand in hand – you need both to make your website shine.
Here are a few things to keep in mind to optimize your website.
Word Count
One of the biggest questions about writing a website is: How many words should be on each page of my website? The answer varies, but generally, you don’t want to worry too much about word count. The easiest way to think about it is, if you’ve said everything you need to say in a clear and concise way, and you’ve fully addressed your topic, then you’re good. Try for at least 600-800 words on each page if it make sense to do so.
Keywords
Including keywords in your website copy is what tells search engines you have relevant information on a topic that your audience is interested in. To find keywords, you can use a free tool like Ubersuggest or Google Keyword Planner, or simply do a Google search on your topic and see what comes up in the suggestions.
Once you’ve written your copy, see where you might be able to include relevant keywords throughout. Don’t keyword stuff (don’t just put them everywhere) – that’s not good for SEO and makes it unenjoyable to read. Try to include them naturally wherever they make sense.
Links
Another easy thing you can do to boost SEO is include links. You can include internal links to your properties, blog posts, and other pages on your website. You can also include external links to any local attractions or events that you’re referencing.
Title Tag & Meta Description
You can tweak the title tag and meta description that show up in Google. If this seems like too much for you to worry about, you don’t have to do anything. These will be automatically generated based on your content. But if you want to, you can change them to make them more intriguing to click on or to add relevant keywords to help your ranking.
Working with a Copywriter
If you want an effective direct booking site but the idea of writing the words and optimizing for SEO is stressing you out, consider hiring a copywriter.
A vacation rental copywriter will:
- Strategize with you
- Learn your brand
- Do the research for you
- Write all the copy
- Optimize for SEO
- Edit to make it perfect
- Reduce your workload and stress!
For more information on what it’s like to work with a copywriter or to book a quick call to chat about your project, visit my website.
It’s not just the design of your direct booking website that matters – although that’s definitely a huge part of its effectiveness. It’s also the words on your website – the language you use, the feelings you evoke, the they-get-me vibes you give off – that help you build a direct booking website that attracts and converts visitors.
If you take the time to deeply understand your target audience, use copywriting techniques to turn website visitors into guests, and optimize your website to help customers find you, you’ll be golden.
Ready to take the first step and gain a deeper understanding of your target audience?
Download my FREE Ideal Guest Avatar Guide, a step-by-step guide to creating a specific avatar you can use to focus your messaging and speak directly to your ideal guest.
It’s workbook style, so you can complete each question as you go – with examples to inspire your creativity – then put it all together to share with your team.
I’m Megan Castor, a vacation rental copywriter and marketing strategist helping property managers and hosts earn more bookings through personality-driven website copy, blogs, and email marketing.
Visit my website at www.megancastoragency.com
or connect with me in the following ways: